The invention relates to a new, distinct and stable cultivar of Paspalum vaginatum Swartz and hereafter referred to by the cultivar denomination ‘TE-13’.
Paspalum vaginatum Swartz (commonly referred to as “Seashore paspalum”) is a grass in the Panicoideae subfamily that inherently colonizes moist euryhaline to stenohaline ecosystems, e.g., along coastal venues and brackish sands or silty areas. This warm-season perennial grass species is ecologically aggressive and varies in leaf texture from very coarse wild indigenous native ecotypes to intermediate to finer-leaved turf ecotypes for uses ranging from land reclamation, dune stabilization, bioremediation (phytoaccumulation) to forages and recreational turf. The diploid, 20-chromosome turfgrass produces both rhizomes (primarily) and stolons (secondarily) for asexual reproduction and dispersion; it is self-incompatible and rarely produces viable seed in monostands, and only when very strict genetic and environmental conditions are satisfied. The grass can tolerate periodic meso-haline flooding encompassing waterlogged, low oxygen conditions.
Paspalum vaginatum has been found in more than 35 countries in Europe, Africa, temperate and tropical Asia, Australia, Pacific Rim, South America, Central America, Caribbean region, North America and in countries located near the Mediterranean Sea. The primary center of origin for the turfgrass types is South Africa and a secondary center of origin is Brazilian and Argentinean coastal areas. Wild, native coarse-textured types can be found along Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Pacific coastal USA saline venues, while the naturalized turfgrass types are predominately localized along the eastern Atlantic coastline. With increasing demands on human use of potable water and the mandated use of alternative non-potable water resources (effluent or recycled water, saline ground and surface water) on recreational turf, turfgrasses that can tolerate a variable range of irrigation water salinities from mildly saline to brackish, that require and efficiently utilize judicious fertilizer applications, and that are pest resistant with multiple inherent genetic stress tolerances are needed for environmental stewardship and ecosystem sustainability.